The P Sawyer Sessions
by MiguelCC51
Summary: This is the story of Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer and the many trials and tribulations she faces along her journey to find happiness. Contains slash. AU. Rating may be subject to change in future.


_Disclaimer: One Tree Hill is the property of Mark Schwann and the CW, thus it is unfortunately not mine. I'm just borrowing the characters for my own twisted ends._

_Summary: This is the story of Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer and the many trials and tribulations she faces along her journey to find happiness. Contains slash. AU._

_**The P. Sawyer Sessions**_

**1 - Brooke**

Peyton had just turned eight years old during the summer when her family moved to Tree Hill. And since she was a shy girl who didn't trust easily, Peyton had no friends whatsoever. Not that it mattered to her. She had always been quite happy by herself. All she needed was her sketch pad to draw while humming under her breath. Other kids annoyed Peyton any way, always trying to get her to play tag or hide and seek when all the blonde would rather do was sit in the sun and sketch her heart out. After several failed attempts by the other children to socialize with her, they finally got the message that Peyton wanted nothing to do with them. So they left her alone.

Well, most of them, that is.

There was one girl who persisted in her attempts, one girl that constantly tried to talk to Peyton time and time again. When summer came to an end and school began Peyton thought that the girl would back off, but instead the girl's harassment got worse until one day during recess the blonde had finally gotten fed up.

"What do I have to do for you to go away?" Peyton shouted at the girl.

The girl grinned back at her. "Finally, she talks!"

"Of course, I can talk," the blonde frowned, non-plussed. Most times people scampered away when Peyton lost her temper. This girl though seemed to be revelling in gaining a response. "Did you think I couldn't?"

"Well, you've been ignoring me forever, so I thought you were one of those, um, deaf people or something," the girl explained, dimples on full display. "But, hey, you're not! So yay!"

"You're weird," Peyton observed aloud.

"No, I'm Brooke," she corrected haughtily. Or as haughtily as an eight year old could hope to manage. "And you're a grouch!"

"I am not," the blonde protested.

"Are too!"

"What are you? Five?"

"No, I'm Brooke," she grinned again. "We've been over this, Peyton."

"How do you know my name?" Peyton demanded.

"We're in the same class, dummy," the girl explained with a sigh. "I sit near the back with Nathan and Timmy."

"Oh, you're _THAT _girl," she groaned, only now recognizing the dimple cheeked brunette.

"By _THAT_, I hope you mean wonderful, because I am, you know,"

"You're something alright."

"Why thank you, Miss Sawyer! You're so kind to notice!"

"That wasn't a compliment."

"But I'm taking it as such," she grinned.

Peyton groaned. "I'm not getting rid of you, am I?"

"Not in this lifetime, P," Brooke confirmed.

"Great," she sighed in resignation. "Just try to be quiet while I'm drawing, okay?"

"I don't make promises I can't keep," the brunette chirped, looping her arm around Peyton. "But for you, I'll try."

"Guess that'll hafta do," she muttered under her breath, sitting back down to begin drawing again. The skinny blonde artist had just barely pressed pencil against paper when Brooke laid her head on the other girl's shoulder.

"Soooo...whatchya drawing?"

"Oh, boy," a defeated Peyton sighed.

* * *

"I don't like it," Peyton complained. "It's cold, and it's wet, and it's cold."

"You said it's cold twice," pointed out her best friend.

"B'cause that's how cold it is!"

Brooke snorted. "It's just snow, P."

"Well, it's not supposed to snow this far south!"

"Quit being such a baby and help me make this snow man," the darker haired girl ordered. "Who knows when we'll ever get another chance to make one!"

"I wanna go home and draw," the blonde pouted, not getting her best friend's obsession with the horrible white stuff falling from the sky.

"That's all you ever wanna do," countered Brooke, rolling her eyes. "You know how to make a snowball?"

"Of course I do," the still petulant Peyton stated.

"Then get started on the head, I'll start the body," beamed the other girl.

She narrowed her eyes at the brunette. "I hate you."

"No, you don't," Brooke replied with confidence. "Now hop to it, P. We're burnin' daylight!"

The young artist really should've known better than to trust the other girl. She really should have. It had barely been four months since Brooke had forcefully inserted herself into Peyton's life. So it shouldn't have been a surprise at all that after finishing the snowman that Brooke declared he needed a home in which to live. Like the freaking snowman was an actual freaking person or something!

"Can we go inside now?" Peyton whined after having spent the entire morning and the better half of the afternoon out in the snow with her so-called best friend.

"Not yet," she answered. "Have to see if our snowman's house is nice enough for him."

"But I can barely feel my fingers anymore, Brooke!"

"Please, Peyton," begged Brooke, her big hazel eyes imploring. "I promise we'll go inside right after that, okay?"

"Fine," relented Peyton with a sigh. In the entire short few months since the brunette had decided to make Peyton her new best friend, she had never been able to refuse Brooke anything when the other girl looked at her like that. And to make matters worse, the young blonde had no idea why Brooke (and only Brooke) had that kind of power over her.

"Will you get in here already?" Brooke cried from inside the snow house. Actually it was more of a snow fort seeing as it lacked a roof but Peyton wasn't about to mention that to Brooke. It would simply result in the over enthusiastic brunette wanting to add one on and that would lead to them having to spend more time out in the cold, something Peyton desperately wanted to avoid at all costs.

When Peyton finally joined her friend inside the snow structure, she found Brooke already seated on the ground against the far wall. Which wasn't all that far to begin with since the entire structure was only six feet by six feet wide. In fact the wall themselves only came up to Peyton's shoulders, the skinny little blonde girl having almost no trouble seeing over the top of said walls.

"Sit down," Brooke ordered with a smile, patting the small space to her right.

Without saying a word Peyton plopped down beside the other girl, the pair of them silently watching the gray clouds moving along in the late afternoon sky above.

"I don't want to go home," the brunette stated out of nowhere, her voice soft and sad sounding. She laid her head onto Peyton's shoulder. "Is it okay if we stay here forever?"

_Her parents must be fighting again,_ Peyton deduced, furrowing her brow. It all made sense to her now, why Brooke was so adamant about wanting to keep playing in the snow. Anything was better than going home to bickering parents. With this in mind Peyton grasped Brooke's hand in her own, which caused the brunette to regard the blonde with a perplexed expression.

"My hand's cold," she lied, her face feeling warm all of a sudden.

If Brooke even suspected the lie, the brunette didn't let on. Instead she simply smiled at Peyton before returning her head back onto the blonde's shoulder. And that's how they remained until Peyton's mother called them inside as night began to fall.

* * *

The school year had just come to an end when Peyton's mom was involved in what would turn out to be a fatal collision, her car t-boned by a truck while rushing to pick up Peyton from school. It was needless to say that the eight year old was devastated by the news, who blamed herself for her mother's death. Naturally Brooke stayed by her side the entire time, not once leaving the blonde's side for that entire summer. Looking back Peyton didn't know how her dad managed to get Brooke's parents to agree to the arrangement.

Six years had come and gone since then. It was hard for Peyton to believe that the obnoxious, dimple cheeked girl who wouldn't take no for an answer had become such a fixture in her life. She didn't know what she'd do if Brooke wasn't around to bug her. Just thinking about it frightened Peyton beyond belief.

"Peyton," her dad called from downstairs. "Brooke's here!"

"Be right down!" she shouted back, still attempting to tame her unruly blonde curls. After about another thirty seconds of consistantly failing though, Peyton sighed in defeat and casually flung her hairbrush over her shoulder where it landed with a loud clunk in the bathtub behind her.

"Hair troubles again, P?" Brooke teased from the doorway.

"Why can't I have straight hair like you, B?" she sighed.

"Buy a hair straightener and you can," the dark haired freshman grinned. She grabbed Peyton by the hand to lead her out of the bathroom. "But after school because we'll be late if we don't leave right now."

"You're really excited about cheerleader tryouts, aren't you?" Peyton asked, already knowing the answer since it was all that Brooke had been talking about for the last several months. Seriously, she wouldn't shut up about it!

"Well, duh," she stated. The two girls rushed downstairs to where Peyton's father was waiting to drive them to their first day of high school, both of them jumping in the back seat. It was a short drive from the Sawyer's house to Tree Hill High, all the while Brooke talking away to the blonde's father as Peyton gazed nervously out the window. She didn't really know what to expect from the coming school year. The closer they got to the school though, the tighter that knot in her stomach became. When she thought she couldn't take it anymore, she felt Brooke grip her hand. Their gazes met and Brooke sent Peyton a re-assuring smile. "It'll be fine, P. I'm right beside you."

For whatever reason Peyton believed her best friend's statement, instantly feeling calm cascade over her entire being. She didn't know why or how Brooke was able to do that, but she was grateful for the peppy brunette's almost constant presence.

A much calmer Peyton returned the smile and squeezed her best friend's hand in gratitude. _As long as I have Brooke beside me, I think I can handle anything._

"Girls, we're there," said Peyton's dad. "You girls stay out of trouble and have a great first day."

"Thanks, Dad," Peyton smiled.

"Yeah, thanks, Papa Sawyer," added Brooke before tugging the door open and dragging her friend out. "Come on, P! Let's rule the school!"

* * *

"Seriously, Sawyer," an exasperated Brooke sighed. "You have to be the worst cheerleader ever. Or, at the very least, the most depressing."

"I'm just really not in the mood for this right now," she retorted, clearly aggrivated with her best friend. Ever since they had joined the squad Brooke had changed into some sort of dictator who was completely obsessed in perfecting whatever insane routine that popped into her pretty little head. It became even worse when the squad made her captain halfway through their sophomore year. On most days Peyton could handle the other girl's insane perfectionist ways, but today of all days was one that the blonde wanted nothing to do with anything except her own misery. All she wanted was some solitude, time to wallow in her annual grief. And Brooke of all people should've known that. Instead of allowing Peyton to leave school though, she all but dragged Peyton to the gym for cheer practice.

"Regionals are just around the corner," the brunette cried, face to face with the blonde. "So whatever it is that's up your craw, Sawyer, I suggest you suck it and get over it!"

"Screw you, Brooke," she shouted, tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe Brooke had forgotten what today was, what had happened seven years ago. "You think this matters? Any of this? Well, you're wrong! None of this matters!"

Without another word an indignant Peyton spun on her heel, the blonde practically stomping her way out of the gymnasium. The enraged fifteen year old sophomore didn't know where she was going until her fury finally dissipated, her viridian irises set on the granite headstone belonging to her mother. She stared at it for an undeterminable amount of time, as though in a trance, before a light touch on her arm brought Peyton back. Her gaze met that of an apologetic Brooke, whose hazel-green eyes were shimmering with tears of her own.

"Don't you have a squad to torture?" muttered Peyton turning away.

"I'm so sorry, Peyt. I can't believe I forgot what today was," she rasped, gently grasping onto the other girl's hand. "I'm such an asshole. Can you ever forgive me?"

The blonde slipped her hand from Brooke's grip. "I don't know. Can you stop being such a cheer-bitch for one day?"

"For you, anything," Brooke promised.

"Fine, then you can stay," she relented, easily forgiving Brooke. Like she always ended up doing whenever the peppy brunette made a mistake, regardless of how minor or major said mistake had been. "Just be quiet."

Instead of speaking Brooke placed her arms around the blonde, her head resting on Peyton's shoulder in a simple display of support.

"I miss her so much, Brooke," whispered Peyton, her voice cracking from emotion.

"I know you do, Peyt," returned Brooke in her trademark rasp. "So do I."

"I'm still mad at you."

"I know," she stated, still embracing the emotionally fragile blonde. They stood there several minutes before Brooke finally led her away, the two girls arriving at Peyton's house in silence. No words were needed though. Despite her earlier screw up Brooke knew what her best friend needed now. The teens lay side by side on Peyton's bed and quietly reminisced on the happy times spent with the late Anna Sawyer until finally they began to get tired.

"You still mad at me?" Brooke asked when the lights were out and they'd gotten ready for bed.

"No," sighed the blonde, her gaze plastered to the ceiling.

"I wouldn't blame you if you were, you know."

"I'm over it, Brooke," she chuckled softly. Really, she was over it. Brooke had more than made it up to her. Just by being there. Maybe that's all Peyton had needed today. Her best friend's undivided attention. She continued to stare up at the ceiling, her thoughts jumbled because of this revelation. What did it mean?

"Quit thinking so loud and go to sleep, Sawyer," commanded Brooke with a yawn, the brunette cuddling up against her in the gloomy bedroom. Her best friend was soon out cold, clinging tightly to Peyton in her sleep as per usual.

Peyton, on the other hand, continued her silent staring contest with the unyielding ceiling, panic filling her entire being at how dependent her entire world was becoming hinged on the slumbering girl attached to her. No, not how it was becoming. How dependent it had already become.

And that realization terrified her to no end.

* * *

It was shortly after sophomore year had ended when Brooke, being the captain of the cheer squad, began partying hard with the popular crowd over the summer. And since Peyton was her best friend, she was obligated to follow after her. It had been during this time that Brooke and her began to drift apart. Part of this small rift was because she didn't care too much for getting drunk like Brooke did, but mostly it was due to Peyton's own burgeoning feelings for her best friend. So Peyton did what she always did when faced with complicated feelings. She retreated into her shell. And the only person who could possibly break into that shell was the one person who was the unknowing cause of it.

Sure, they still hung out exclusively. They were best friends, after all. But it was different. Both of them knew it. Peyton had to give Brooke credit for trying to get her to open up, the bubbly brunette showing that same tenacity she had when they'd first become friends. Try as Brooke might though, there was no way in hell that Peyton was going to admit that she was falling for her best friend. No way in hell was she going to risk driving Brooke away like that. Better to keep her at arms length until these abnormal feelings went away. Brooke was far too important to her to do otherwise.

So when Nathan Scott, star player of the Ravens basketball team, asked her out near the end of summer, Peyton jumped at the chance at being normal. And maybe, just maybe, her feelings for Brooke would disappear in the process.

Unfortunately for Peyton, this would turn out not to be the case.

**End scene.**

**Reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading. For those wondering, each chapter will be titled after the character whom affects Peyton the most in that chapter. So it only makes sense that Brooke is up first since they've known each other the longest. That said, this doesn't mean that the titled character (in this case, Brooke) will disappear from the story altogether. So don't fret.**

**Next chapter: Nathan**


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